Rep. Sarah McBride Delivers 2025 Soles Lecture on the Constitution and Citizenship, Calling Hope a “Democratic Necessity” in a Cynical Age

NEWARK, DE - Earlier this month, Delaware's Congresswoman Sarah McBride delivered the 2025 James R. Soles Lecture on the Constitution and Citizenship at the University of Delaware, urging students, educators, and community members to reject cynicism and recommit to democracy through hope, persuasion, and coalition-building.

Speaking before students, faculty, and guests in Clayton Hall, McBride examined the role of hope in sustaining democratic citizenshipat a moment of deep political division.

"Today, I want to speak with you about a word that has fallen out of fashion in this country. I want to speak about hope - not as a slogan or a simple sentiment, but as a democratic necessity, as an active ingredient in citizenship," McBride said. "Because citizenship is not always easy, and hope is not always organic."

McBride warned that cynicism, while tempting, poses a direct threat to democratic institutions and culture.

"We live in an age when cynicism comes cheap," she said. "But in democracy, cynicism is not neutral. It's corrosive."

She emphasized that democracy cannot survive if Americans abandon faith in one another or retreat from engagement across disagreement.

"We cannot claim to believe in democracy and in the same moment, write off half of our country," McBride said. "We cannot give up on politics as a means for progress. We cannot say we believe in democracy and cut off conversation across disagreement."

McBride cautioned against political movements that rely on fear, intimidation, and division rather than democratic humility.

"This is the danger that we see in our politics today - political leaders in Washington that are not content to just debate ideas, but seek to intimidate dissent," she said. "People who use cruelty as the currency of their corruption. That govern not with the humility of democracy, but with the hubris of authoritarianism."

Drawing on history, McBride highlighted that progress in America has always required coalition-building and persuasion, not purity or shaming.

"Every previous generation has understood that progress requires building coalitions, even unlikely ones, that painful, often difficult conversations across disagreement are not a bug of democracy - they are a feature of it," she said. "There has never been a movement for social progress that was a monolith."

She added, "They succeeded not because one side shamed the other side into submission, but because enough people were persuaded."

McBride closed her remarksby situating the current political moment within a long arc of American history, warning against forces that exploit cynicism to undermine democracy.

"Whenever our system of government has been tested, when our bonds of affection have been strained, we have faced as a country a fork in the road - a question in that moment: do we destroy or do we build?" she said.

"Destroyers, they thrive in a culture of cynicism, and they exploit it," McBride continued."And aided by algorithms and authoritarians, they want to destroy our faith in democracy's capacity to deliver."

As the nation approaches the 250th anniversary of its founding, McBride urged Americans to choose connection, grace, and democratic faith over fear.

"We must decide whether we will turn inward or reach outward, whether we will choose grace over grievance, faith in one another, or fear of the other," she said. "We must decide whether we will destroy or whether we will build that more perfect union."

The Soles Lecture is presented annually by the University of Delaware's Department of Political Science and International Relations and honors the legacy of Professor James R. Soles, a longtime educator, public servant, and leader in Delaware civic life. The lecture is funded by the James R. Soles Citizenship Endowment. The full lecture is available here for viewing.

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